After a long absence from the international exposition stage, China (now
the People’s Republic of China or PRC) under the leadership of marketfriendly
Deng Xiaoping, sought to leave a strong, positive impression on
its Australian neighbors at the Brisbane ’88 Expo. Australia was one of
the first Western nations to deepen its relationship with China in the
post-Mao era, and by 1988 the Australian public was enthralled by the
‘terracotta warriors’ and their acrobatic troupes, long a centerpiece of
cultural diplomacy. China’s modes of self-representation reflected what
Australian admired about the country and just a year before Tiananmen,
the PRC offered up a play banned during the Cultural Revolution (1966-
1976), hinting at a more open, democratic future that was not to be.
